Notice me, Senpai
by mimi-cee
Summary: She helps a certain player get more noticed by his coach, not knowing how embarrassed she'll be when he uses her tactic back at her. (It's fine," she said with a laugh, "You don't have to do it. I mean, I think it would be hilarious, but if it makes you uncomfortable-" "I'll do it," he said again, with the same determined face that she had noticed during his matches.)


A/N: If you're one of my author followers, sorry this isn't a tsukiyachi story. I've taken requests on Tumblr where someone gives me a description of themselves and I make a story with them and another character in Haikyuu. This is one of them. These stories will still be cute like Accidental Confession. :) I started taking requests to practise creating characters and plotlines.

This is one person's description:

_well physically i would say im tall (5'9) and im just the average body. my hair is blonde and i have light brown eyes also i wear glasses bc im literally blind. i'm usually very rational and logical, and im very observant which makes me look very serious and maybe even rude bc of my facial expressions but im actually very energetic, nice and easy to talk to. im always making people laugh despite all my sarcasm and humor and i enjoy making new friends. i used to play volleyball (where i put my observation skills to use) but i dont anymore bc of an injury. i love being organized even tho sometimes i don't follow my own rules, and im definitely a perfectionist which makes me usually overwork myself. lastly, im very enpathetic_

* * *

Tanaka and Nishinoya were energetically chatting in their classroom - things like Kiyoko-senpai as well as their volleyball team. Umiko wasn't surprised that school work wasn't one of those topics though.

"I don't know how your team will cope now," Umiko commented to the two of them. "Two of your best receivers graduated." Umiko had known about their team because she was at the game against Shiratorizawa, cheering in the stands. Her friend had suggested to her that she should go. She had thought Umiko's energetic personality would be perfect for the job. Umiko definitely went, especially since she loved volleyball.

"Wait a moment," said Tanaka with a glint in his eye. "Do you know what's the difference between a serve receive and a dig?"

"Of course," Umiko answered. "You have to bump the ball for both, but one is from a serve and the other is from a spike."

Nishinoya's eyes lit up, as if catching onto why Tanaka was asking. "Do you know what a free or chance ball is?"

"Yeah," Umiko said like it was obvious. "It's when the opponents aren't able to attack so they just lob the ball back over the net." The two gave each other a look while Umiko was just confused. "I don't get it. You two already know that I-"

Tanaka and Nishinoya suddenly picked up Umiko, all 5' 9" of her, and carried her to a second year class. "What are you doing?!" she yelled out at them. She couldn't believe that the 5' 3" short libero was one of the guys carrying her.

Umiko suddenly found herself in front of Yachi. She stared at her for a moment, noting that she was really short. She looked at her more closely and figured that she was almost a foot taller than her. She wondered if she had always had a kouhai this cute in her school.

"S-sorry!" apologized Yachi to her. "I- I'm really bad at being a manager."

Umiko got confused as to why she would apologize to her for something like that. Apparently, Umiko missed Tanaka's explanation on how Yachi needed help with recording statistics for the team.

"Could you stop making that face?" asked Tsukishima. "You're scaring Yachi."

When Umiko realized that she was staring at Yachi a little too intently, she said, "Oh sorry!" She started to say, "I'm actually really friendly! I just-." She stopped, initially wanting to explain that she only looked rude or scary when she was thinking about something, but she wished that she didn't have to explain it every time. "Never mind."

Later, Tanaka and Nishinoya introduced Umiko to the team as they waited for their opponents to arrive for a practice match.

"Is she Tsukishima's sister?" asked Hinata.

"Yes," Tsukishima sarcastically replied. "All girls with blond hair, brown eyes and glasses are my sisters."

"Really?" said Hinata with sparkles in his eyes as he looked at Umiko.

"No," Tsukishima answered as Yamaguchi snickered at him.

As the teams warmed up before the game, Umiko sat at the bench beside Yachi. She analyzed the players' different forms and strengths as they practised their serves.

"What's with her face?" Kageyama commented.

"She looks like she's planning a murder," added Tsukishima.

"Maybe because I am," Umiko said sarcastically.

Tanaka stepped in to defend her and said, "You shouldn't be talking about a girl's face like that!" Tsukishima commented that Tanaka probably got offended because he looked like that pretty often. But then he looked away when Tanaka glared at him as if he was going to kill him. Umiko laughed at how Tanaka looked and decided that she didn't have a favourable impression of either Tsukishima or Kageyama.

When the game started, Umiko took a glance at the players on the sidelines, cheering for their team. She recognized a few of them, especially their pinch server. She remembered when she was on the sidelines too and sympathized with them.

"Yachi," Umiko asked, "do you have footage of your other matches?" Yachi later gave them to her, not realizing what Umiko was about to get into.

Umiko decided to binge watch all of their matches that night and as a result, she was sleepy the next day. It wasn't like she hadn't watched some of their matches before. She had made sure to watch their tournament games whenever they were on TV. She just wanted to get a second look of their games with the ability to pause in between plays. Umiko started by recording the stats for each game by counting every spike, block and dig per person, but it was too much work and it felt useless, so she just started to write her own notes based on her observations. So at their practice, a sleepy Umiko told each player on the team what they could improve on.

"How did you analyze so much?" Tanaka and Nishinoya asked with their jaws dropped.

"Oh, I actually have more," Umiko grinned as she showed the rest of her notes. Inside an organized notebook, she had a page worth of content for each player. She had written their name, profile, strengths and weaknesses, and even detailed steps on things they could do to improve.

Tsukishima looked at her like he wanted to say a sarcastic comment, but he couldn't because her notes were too accurate.

"I think you just don't like that she pointed out your weaknesses," Yamaguchi laughed at him. He looked at Umiko with a smile. "I'm surprised I'm in there too, especially since I'm not a starting player."

"Of course I didn't overlook you!" she said. "You're the ones who want to improve the most!"

She could see that Yamaguchi really appreciated it. She had also written down their goals that she had gotten from Yachi, so she knew that Yamaguchi wanted to be a starting player and to have a bigger presence on the court.

"By the way, you look really tired," noted Yamaguchi. As if he noticed something about her, he asked, "When did you start making these notes?"

"Last night."

"What?!" he freaked out at the fact that you stayed up late just to help their team.

"Oh, this kind of happens often because I'm kind of a perfectionist and I can get carried away with things," she told him. "But don't worry! I'm used to this!"

Yamaguchi just sweatdropped at her, "Of course you'll make people worried about you. You're making me worried right now."

Over the next month or two, Umiko continued to watch some of their practices and assisted Yachi and the coach whenever she could. So when they didn't make it to the nationals the next time around, it pained her to see them lose their game, knowing how hard they had worked. She noticed that Yamaguchi was also trying to figure out a way for them to get over their loss and to encourage them to keep trying harder. Umiko wanted to help as well, but instead, she thought of a silly idea, which may or may not help.

She approached Yamaguchi one day, telling him that she had an idea that would cheer up the team and would also get him noticed by the coach. If he did it, you could say that he'd have a bigger presence on the court without even trying. So when she told him her idea, he freaked out, which she expected.

"It's fine," Umiko said with a laugh, "You don't have to do it. I mean, I think it would be hilarious, but if it makes you uncomfortable-"

"I'll do it," he replied.

"What?" Umiko said. It caught her off-guard since she was not expecting that.

"I'll do it," he said again, with the same determined face that she had noticed during his matches. "I've always admired people with the confidence to do something like that, so I'll force myself to do it."

For some reason, his determination had caught her eye again. But the next day, you could say that Yamaguchi started to chicken out.

"Where did all that determination from yesterday go?!" asked Umiko as she tugged on Yamaguchi's arm to pull him into the second gymnasium. "Do you know what I had to do to get this costume for you? I have to do my brother's chores for a week now!"

"I didn't think I'd look like this!" Yamaguchi yelled back.

They both froze when they saw Tsukishima walking along the path between the school and the gym. He also froze when he saw Yamaguchi. Umiko could see the drops of sweat on Tsukishima's head forming. He then proceeded to the gym as if he didn't see anything.

"Tsukkiii! Help me!" cried out Yamaguchi.

"What kind of guy ditches his best friend like that?!" Umiko yelled after him.

But of course he would be embarrassed by Yamaguchi at that moment. He was wearing a chicken costume. But that wasn't all. He wore a t-shirt over it that said, "I'm going to be a starting player. So if you become a chicken, I'll take your position!"

"BAHAHAHAHA!" Tanaka and Nishinoya both laughed at him after Umiko finally got him inside. Yamaguchi placed a hand on the wall, forgetting why he did this in the first place.

_"Well, this would definitely get me noticed," said Yamaguchi. "But this won't improve my skills."_

_"You should do both," Umiko grinned at him. "Get the coach's attention while you improve on your skills."_

"I guess we can't let ourselves get too discouraged about the preliminaries now when we have to worry about Yamaguchi taking our position from us," said Tanaka with a grin.

"Well, he could take a middle blocker or a wing spiker position," said Kageyama. "But it's not like he could be a setter."

"Who knows," said Umiko. "With how hard he works, it's not impossible." Yamaguchi gave her a look as if she were crazy.

Yamaguchi sighed, "I still can't believe I wore this."

Umiko just smirked at him. "You know, I thought it was actually really cool that you were determined to do this in the first place." Yamaguchi blushed at her comment. "But it seems like you have a daily limit of confidence," she laughed.

* * *

Yamaguchi got to know Umiko better over the months at school and practice. Since she liked making new friends, she somehow kept pulling him into her antics. She told him that she was surprised that he could keep up with her energetic personality. He figured that someone had to take care of her.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask," said Yamaguchi. "Do you have any suggestions on how I can spike harder?"

Umiko went on to explain things like proper spiking form and that he would need to twist his whole body to get strength from all of his muscles. "I'd show you, but I injured my shoulder."

"What?!" exclaimed Yamaguchi as he panicked. He felt so bad that he didn't even notice it these past few months. "Ugh... I feel like a horrible friend."

"It's fine. It's not like I brought it up before," said Umiko. She continued to explain that she kept practising her spiking swing at home, which overworked the tendons in her shoulder. So during an actual game, she had spiked the ball and then she had felt a sharp pain, which ran from her shoulder and down her back. But since they had been so close to winning, she had pushed through the pain.

After learning this, Yamaguchi did some research on muscle pain. He bought all of these medical supplies for Umiko. But then later, Umiko told him that he didn't need to because she was already working with a physiotherapist. Yamaguchi couldn't believe that he did all that research for nothing, but she still appreciated the effort.

One day, Yamaguchi walked down the school hallway with Tsukishima. When he peaked into Umiko's classroom, he noticed that Umiko was chatting with Tanaka and Nishinoya. He sighed, commenting that he wished he was a year older. "She's only a year older," replied Tsukishima. "I don't get why the whole senpai/ kouhai thing matters so much to people."

Yamaguchi flinched in shock that Tsukishima knew that he was talking about. But then again, he knew that Tsukishima was pretty perceptive, so he shouldn't have been surprised. "I just don't know how I can get her to notice me."

"What do you mean?" snickered Tsukishima. "She introduced a perfect method to you."

* * *

Umiko walked into the gym, expecting a regular practice, but when she saw Yamaguchi, her whole face turned red and she yelled out, "What the heck is that?!" He was wearing a custom-made t-shirt with Umiko's face on it, saying, "Umiko-senpai is really cool!" Yamaguchi struggled to give an answer right there, especially with his teammates laughing their butts off. So Umiko dragged him out of the gym and asked him what was going on.

"I- I just wanted you to notice me, Umiko-senpai," said Yamaguchi timidly.

"What do you mean? You're my friend!" she replied.

"I mean as a potential boyfriend. B- But I don't expect you to like me back right now," he said as he started to get flustered. "I figured that I'd get you to notice me while I worked on getting you to like me."

Umiko blushed at his direct confession. She thought it sounded familiar, but then she realized that was the same advice she had given him to get the coach's attention. She giggled at Yamaguchi for using her tactic, but she was suddenly conscious of how close his face was to hers. He was only about a couple of inches taller than her so she got a good view of his freckles.

"Y- You don't have to do use that t-shirt to get my attention!" Umiko told him. "Do you think I'm blind or something?" When he didn't answer right away, she added, "Okay, I'm basically blind without my glasses, but you don't have to wear a t-shirt with my face on it." She then turned her head away from him and muttered, "Besides, I had already noticed you."

When Umiko had been in the stands at the Shiratorizawa game, she had noticed Yamaguchi freaking out before their big match. They had needed to win three matches against the powerhouse school. She had known that they still had a chance since they did somehow make it to the finals.

She had been surprised when Yamaguchi was subbed in. When she had realized that he had been there as a pinch server, she had found it interesting because she had never had a pinch server on her team before. When he had been subbed back out, she had thought it must have sucked to only be able to play for one rotation per set. He must have wanted to be able to play even longer.

Umiko had thought it was really cool anyway because she saw he was still a very valuable player as a pinch server. He had to ability to turn the game around with how good his serves were. She had later wondered what happened to the nervous boy she saw earlier. During his serve, he had looked a lot cooler and more confident.

When she had found out that she could have an opportunity to actually help the team, of course she had gotten too carried away. She had wondered why she was working so hard, but had just brushed it off, thinking that it was her perfectionist side coming out again. When she had seen how much Yamaguchi appreciated her work, she had wanted to help him even more. She didn't know when her empathy turned into actually having a crush on him.

"I like you too," she said with a blush.

"What? Really?" Yamaguchi was shocked.

"Why do you think I worked so hard on analyzing the team's matches? I was especially attentive when I was writing stuff for you." Umiko said with a blush. "I even did my brother's chores for a week for you to get that chicken costume." Yamaguchi chuckled at that memory with her. "So you don't have to wear that embarrassing t-shirt anymore," she added.

"Oh, okay," he replied with a smile.

When he suddenly started to take off his shirt, Umiko panicked and said, "I didn't mean that you should take it off now, you idiot!" Umiko smacked the back of Yamaguchi's head. "Do you think you're Tanaka or something?"

At the next tournament, Yamaguchi stood on the court, shaking like a leaf as he and the rest of the starting players showed their jersey numbers to the referee. From the second floor, Umiko noticed how nervous he was and energetically called out to him. "Yamaguchi!" When he looked up, she placed the tips of her hands on her head to form a large heart. Yamaguchi chuckled at her as she continued to hold the heart above her head and added a silly dance. Tsukishima still thought she was annoying while Hinata told him that he should be happy that Umiko helped Yamaguchi relax.

* * *

**Bonus** \- (because of the liars headcanons I read)

"So... if you want to be my boyfriend, Tsukishima can't be your best friend anymore," said Umiko. When it looked like Yamaguchi was actually considering it, she cut off his train of thought. "Wait! I was just joking!"

Yamaguchi said, "I know and just wanted to scare you."

"Where did you learn to fake like that," she said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Our other setter taught me," he said as he grinned. "He graduated in March."

"I guess he must be like Tsukishima then because I thought Tsukishima taught you," she said. Yamaguchi just laughed at how wrong she was.


End file.
